The director and creator of the docuseries Icons Unearthed: Marvel has hopes for Agents of SHIELD to join the MCU, thanks to the recent (re-)introduction of Daredevil. Chronicling the rise of Marvel Comics and the MCU from the company’s inception through the release of the first Ant-Man film, Icons Unearthed: Marveltakes a behind-the-scenes look at how the biggest modern film phenomenon came to be. One key factor, according to Icons Unearthed: Marvel director Brian Volk-Weiss, is the company’s willingness to take risks and do what needs to be done on behalf of its characters.
A prime example of such a thing, according to Volk-Weiss, is the way Marvel has treated the characters from its Netflix series in recent years. As many among the Marvel audience are aware, the Netflix Marvel shows introduced beloved takes on Daredevil and The Defenders, only to be kept out of the MCU itself and eventually shelved. Agents of SHIELD was a slightly different story, as the series ran for seven seasons on ABC before coming to a well-earned conclusion. Still, that show was initially said to be a part of the MCU, but later revealed to be its own entity. When Screen Rant asked if those involved with Marvel’s Netflix and ABC projects were upset about being left out of the MCU for so long, Volk-Weiss said the following:
Nobody said this to me, but reading in between the lines, I do not believe Agents of SHIELD has been permanently abandoned. And I do believe they are working aggressively, and you could see this at work in She-Hulk, one of the best Marvel anything ever made. They're starting to bring the characters from the Netflix era into the MCU. Again, nobody does this. That's insane.
They're not happy with the deal they made with Netflix. Usually, when a company and an executive are unhappy about a deal, they don't try and replicate it and keep it going. The fact that they're embracing something they're not happy about is crazy, but they just do the right thing every time. I don't work for Marvel; I am literally not wearing a Marvel t-shirt at the moment. But I truly don't think they get enough credit for what they do and what they've done, even as successful as they've been.
How Agents of SHIELD Can Fit into the Next Phases of the MCU
Thanks to the introduction of Variants and the Multiverse, now is the perfect time to fold the cast and characters of Agents of SHIELD back into the MCU. There have been rumors of Chloe Bennet returning to the role of Quake in a future MCU project, but the entire cast of Agents of SHIELD was beloved and would surely be welcomed into the universe just as warmly. Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson was a fan-favorite character from his short appearances in the Iron Man films, and his return after his death in 2012’s The Avengers would likely be cause for celebration.
The most interesting thing about the Agents of SHIELD cast joining the MCU may be the question of how to handle the events of the series. This is an ongoing topic in regard to Daredevil, Punisher, and Kingpin, as many vocal advocates want the MCU versions of these beloved characters to pick up where the Netflix series left off. This is tougher for Agents of SHIELD, as what is considered by some to be Marvel’s best TV show covered an unbelievable amount of ground and took its characters through dizzying journeys across time and space. In many ways, it would be better for the Agents of SHIELD actors to come into the MCU with a fresh slate as new variants, while still bringing the same spark to their performances that made Agents of SHIELD such an enjoyable series. When and if that will happen, of course, remains to be seen.